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November 24, 2009 | 8:46 pm

Celebrating 150 years of ‘On The Origin of Species’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The celebration of Charles Darwin’s “On The Origin of Species” began last year. Then Darwin turned 200—talk about survival of the fittest. And today marks the official anniversary of Darwin’s revolutionary theory of evolution.

Religion Dispatches carried several items today dedicated to “The Single Greatest Idea Ever.” This article included a photo of banana creation man Ray Comfort (video after the jump). Lauri Lebo writes:

Darwin’s theory of natural selection as an explanation of evolutionary processes is the foundation of all of modern biology. At its heart, the theory is elegantly simple: individual creatures with traits best suited to their environment are better able to survive and reproduce offspring.

And yet, it has been hailed as The Single Greatest Idea Ever: Darwin showed how the pieces of life’s amazing diversity fit together, and consequently, how we fit into that puzzle.

But, as Darwin clearly understood at the time of publication, Origin of Species would also challenge religious notions, not only of a 6,000-year-old world and a literal acceptance of Genesis, but about ideas of human exceptionalism.

Even though Darwin never raised the issue of human evolution in Origin (that would come 12 years later in his Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex), the underlying point was not lost on the public.

If man evolved from apes, how could we have been made in God’s image?

Lebo goes on, and she might want to be careful repeating that last line in front of Ms. Garrison. Also worth reading, this history of the debate over God and science.

Yes, creationists are the scientific community’s favorite target. There are, however, noteworthy scientist who believe in creation. Dr. Francis Collins, who I’ve written about here and there, comes to mind.

Even among evangelicals, 28 percent believe in some form of evolution—I’d include myself in that category—though I think many people who answer “yes” to this question are talking about only microevolution. I like to think of evolution as God’s creation tool.

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Worth reading from Time Magazine (online)
Q&A: Dennis Sewell on Charles Darwin’s Dark Legacy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091124/hl_time/08599194248300

Here is a statement of the idea that Darwin’s ideas were immediately adopted to promote racism, the eugenics movement, which led to the You-Know-What and interestingly, the Colombine killersd and similar ones.

I would make he same point about atheism, andprobably will when I get some more time sitting in front of a computer.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 11/25/09 at 3:04 am

The fact that atomic bombs were used to kill people doesn’t in any way challenge the truth that e=mc^2.

Similarly, whether evolutionary theory was a factor in the Holocaust or not does not change the fact that current species evolved from earlier species.

And denying the overwhelming evidence of evolution is no different than denying other well-supported facts.

Comment by RickK on 11/25/09 at 1:03 pm

Non-living matter has never been observed creating living matter.

Creatures have never been observed giving birth to entirely new species.

Micro-evolution is a fact.  All dogs evolved from a common dog ancestor, for example.

Macro-evolution is a fantasy.  Fish->amphibian->reptile->shrew->ape->human being.  Pure fantasy.
 
If evolution were true, there would be as many intermediate species as there are “completed” species.  In fact, there would be more intermediates than “completed,” since “completed” is the final form, but it would have taken thousands of intermediates to reach the “completed” form.  But proof of intermediates does not exist.  What exists is pure speculation that some creatures in the fossil record may be intermediates due to certain similarities.  But there are similarities between creatures today.  Horses and dogs, for example.  Doesn’t mean one is an earlier form of the other.

Bone fragments are not proof of evolution.

Biological similarities between unlike creatures is not proof of evolution either.
 
Therefore, a belief in macro-evolution is unscientific.

It is faith.

True science is provable.

True science is factual.

Anything less than a fact is a theory.

Evolution is a theory.

Evolution is not science.

Comment by mark on 11/25/09 at 6:09 pm

i guess it all comes down to how you read Genesis.  what was this rib of Adam’s ?  men and women have the same number of ribs.  but, unlike a majority of mammals, men don’t have a bacula, which looks a bit like a rib.  additionally, men generally have 12 pairs of ribs, where chimps have 13 pairs (one less).

and what is this curse of Eve’s ?  most mammals don’t have nearly the trouble with childbirth that we do.  but then, they don’t have a brain and skull that is huge in relation to their pelvis, either.  knowledge takes space and is truly a curse here, even with the efficiencies of folded gray matter.

and what of this curse of Adam’s ?  the agricultural revolution started right about the time of when many people think Adam lived, or maybe a few thousand years sooner.  Adam may have been a later bloomer, even.  in any case, it would be very difficult to return to grazing now.  we’ve been too successful to allow that.

so which is true, Genesis, or Evolution ?  i’m not sure i understand the question.

Comment by Proton Soup on 11/26/09 at 9:52 pm

If you think about it, it’s not evolution that challenges Genesis, it’s natural selection. Genesis only specifies one initial instant of the creation of something from nothing. After that the language only indicates godly initiative. Starting from nothing to something, and from chaos to light (coherent energy) alone, God organized existence and successively built and refined matter, life, species, intelligence, and humans. How would anyone do it differently?

There is no natural reason for the differentiation of species or the development of intelligence to the degree that humans possess it. Furthermore, all of the scientific design processes necessary for life were invented many millions of years ago. The biggest inventions happened at the level of the single-celled organism. The development of all the rest is not as significant as that. The fish and insects and birds of millions of years ago were no less sophisticated than those of today.

Not only that, but the accumulation of changes that led to the development of humans were meaningless and useless for survival until much later in history. Like, when Emeril walks around and goes Bam!, it is only because all of the ingredients have been prepared and laid out for him before the show.

And with all of that, our human physical type existed for a over hundred thousand years with nothing to show for our great brain, until God took the initiative to place a divine soul into the receptacle that he had cultivated for so long. There is no human history before that, and only the Torah documents a record of those prehistoric times.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 11/28/09 at 11:15 pm

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